Abigail is a character whose actions are deeply effected by the social and historical setting of the play. In such a god fearing community Abigail’s affair with Proctor would have been regarded as very taboo and her name would have been marked as one of a loose woman. One’s name in this period was very important, with people fighting to keep their names pure and unblemished. Abigail had to save her name from the rumours of her dismissal by Elizabeth Proctor and this attempted marking of her name would have created a great deal of resent on Abigail’s part ‘Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar.’ Abigail was also a victim of the conflict between the Pilgrims and the Indians in two ways. Her parents were killed in front of her leaving her permanently scarred and orphaned. Being brought up by Parris who is described as having ‘no interest in children’ would have undoubtedly left her seeking some sort of affection. This conflict also created a fear of the outside world for the inhabitants of towns such as Salem, leaving Abigail with no escape. Abigail’s battle to save her name, the lack of affection that pushed her into John Proctor’s arms and her prospect of no escape leave Abigail as an undoubted victim of the society’s values and the historical conflicts of the period.
John Proctor is an interesting character. As the play unfolds Proctor develops seemingly from the villain to the hero. Proctor refused to be lead by the church due to his dislike of Parris, this alone making him too much of an individual for a period where religion was, literally everything. As already established, Abigail’s leading role in the madness was caused by her unrequited love for Proctor. Proctor’s affair with Abigail and his actions after it had taken place, such as his glancing up at her window and blushing when she passed in church, left Abigail with the impression that Proctor loved her. Unbeknown to Proctor, Abigail plotted to usurp Elizabeth and take her place. Proctor’s revelation to Abigail that he in fact does not love her, appears only to make her more determined to get him. However despite Proctor’s mistakes, we are seduced into sympathising with him. As we follow his problematic marriage it becomes clear that Proctor has the deepest love for Elizabeth. His realisation of his mistake and imperfections, make him much more human and therefore, possible to relate to. However the underlying question is had John Proctor not slept with Abigail would the trials have happened?
John Proctor is a character whose dialogue shows changes in his character, and it is these changes that endear him to the audience. Proctor spends the start of the play trying to deny his feelings for Abigail, to himself and Abigail herself. The confusion caused by this denial comes across in his dialogue with anger and fondness being expressed. When talking to Abigail his sentences are quite short and monosyllabic, ‘You’ll put it out of mind’ as if he doesn’t trust himself to say very much. Yet there is a sense of fondness in his words as they are soft and kind rather than the typical harsh tone that one would expected to occur in a denial, for example his use of ‘Abby’ rather than ‘Abigail’. This fondness gives the impression Proctor has no regrets regarding his actions. However in the following scenes there is the contrast of his relationship with his wife. Proctor’s language is very timid and almost fearful when talking to his wife as if he is not quite sure how to act around her ‘I mean to please you Elizabeth.’ His utter devotion to Elizabeth is demonstrated in his reaction to her arrest ‘she’ll not die for me … goodness will not die for me!’ His perception of his wife as the definition of ‘goodness’ shows the respect and emotions he holds for her.
Proctor changes from the confused and timid characters seen in the first two scenes to a powerful and defiant man when he is in court, with added use of commanding verbs ‘tell’, and his tone when leading Mary through the trial, ‘she never saw no spirits’. The final scenes depict Proctor as the hero and his language reflects this. He dialogue is calm and collected yet of the greatest passion, ‘you have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor.’ These way in which language expresses the changes in the character of Proctor allow the audience to relate to him and experience his emotions and thus granting his character sympathy.
Proctor’s character develops as the play progresses and as this development occurs, and his history is revealed to the audience, the sympathy felt for him also augments. At the outset of the play Proctor is shown as a lecherous man who had betrayed his marriage vows by having an affair with his virgin servant girl. This most definitely does not endear any sort of sympathy. However in the following scene we are shown the atmosphere of his house. Despite his attempt at niceties the cold and suspicious tone of his wife as they converse. Although this is deserved it causes a sense of pity for Proctor, as the audience is aware that he has told the truth and is questing for forgiveness from his unrelenting wife ‘I think you’re sad again. Are you?’ Subsequently the love for his wife shown when she is arrested ‘I will fall like and ocean on that court! Fear nothing, Elizabeth.’ Proctor endears sympathy as, as the hysteria builds up he appears to be one of few seeing sense. He points out that if the accused deny they face hanging, whereas their confession, regardless of its truth, means life. The audience’s attitude changes in Act 3 when Proctor attempts to defend and free his wife. The tension in this act increase as Proctor’s desperation augments. As the act progresses Proctor’s revelations ‘that woman will never lie’ builds up bathos, as the audience are drawn into the escalation into the climax of his confession to adultery and his wife’s’ following denial of it. The audience’s sympathy is developed through the use of dramatic irony, as we are aware that Elizabeth will deny the affair to save her husbands name. This event is a turning point as his desperation in the whole situation and obvious love for Elizabeth is expressed earning the audience’s sympathy. Proctor is one character who is present throughout the trials and until the bitter end i.e. his death. The final scenes are where Proctor is shown as a heroic tortured soul, who craves the love and forgiveness of Elizabeth. His obvious disgust at his sacrifice of his morals and his shame when he faces Rebecca Nurse ‘through his teeth, his face turned away from Rebecca’ captivate the audience. This search for self forgiveness and the finding of ‘his goodness,’ leaves Proctor as the hero who remains human, most definitely endearing sympathy.
The Salem society was ruled by religion and despite Proctor’s sins there are many parallels between himself and Jesus Christ, both are persecuted for telling the truth and trying to save others. Both these men were willing to sacrifice in order to save those they loved, in Proctor’s case sacrificing his name to save Elizabeth. The religious view of others caused both their executions, which served as a salvation to others making them see sense. Proctor’s name also plays an important part in gaining sympathy. We are shown how important names are in this period and despite their importance Proctor is willing to sacrifice his name in order to save Elizabeth. This is a demonstration of his love, and ironically at the climax of the play Proctor deems his name as all he has left. Proctor receives the audience’s sympathy as despite his part in pushing Abigail to the limit he is tortured by conflicting inner feelings, and he displays desperation and heroism in order to save those he loves.
Thomas Putnam is a relatively minor character in comparison to people such as John Proctor or Abigail. However, despite this he is a character who plays a large part in the mass hysteria and is in fact the only character who is in my opinion void of any audience sympathy. Thomas Putnam encouraged the madness surrounding the trials of witchcraft through the influence he bore over his daughter, a so-called witness, and through his personal accusations on members of the community. His motives for these primarily false accusations appear unclear. However the village’s blatant disregard of his brother-in-law as a candidate for the position of minister and their apparent be-smirching of his name, along with his need for land, indicate to him, the richest man in Salem, being ruthless and embittered. His history within Salem, more specifically his failures in public causes, such as his attempt to break his father’s will, suggests he held many grievances based on petty indifferences. Yet despite all of the above the authors notes informs that Thomas Putnam regarded himself as intellectually superior to those around him in Salem due to his wealth and subsequent status within the close knit community. Despite this the factions against him in the society prevented himself and his family from gaining any eminence beyond that accompanying his wealth. However his accusations led to the wrongful execution of many of his neighbours and due to his lack of motives beyond gaining power and his land lust, the audience most certainly does not pity this character.
Miller’s portrayal of Putnam does not endear to the audience- his language is frequently cold, bitter and vindictive ‘cannot a man turn his head without he have a meeting?’ showing the nature of the man in question. The beginning of the play shows a great deal of repetition within his dialogue nearly every sentence spoken is suggesting witchcraft or the supernatural as being the cause of the child’s ailments, ‘there are hurtful, vengeful spirits layin’ hands on these children’, ‘a murdering witch among us’. This enhances the theme of evil, keeping it at the forefront of the audiences mind. He also repeatedly uses the personal pronoun ‘you’ when speaking to Paris ‘you have discovered witchcraft’, ‘don’t you understand it’, this feature is typical of persuasive texts with the effect of persuasion through personalisation of the argument. Similarly Putnam is persuading Paris to face the Salem community by repeatedly reminding Paris that the witchcraft is personal, occurring in his own home. These very subtle form of repetition and similarity with the tone of a sermon sets in motion the feeling of mounting hysteria, giving the impression that Thomas Putnam’s intention was in fact to initiate such madness in order to get revenge on members of the community. This theory is supported later on in the play when Putnam is confronted with allegations regarding the possibilities that his accusations may be an underhand plot to receive large areas of land cheaply. His reaction is monosyllabic and through the lack of stage directions unemotional, ‘It is a lie’. This creates the sense that it is an unsurprised and cold reaction, i.e. it is calculated and prepared. Both these points point to Putnam possessing a vindictive nature, therefore lessening the audience’s pity for him.
Putnam, along with Abigail, receives little sympathy is an effect of his absence from key acts. Putnam’s part in the trials is shown through the structure of the play. The specific times of Putnam’s presence and equally his absence from the scenes is a key issue regarding his lack of sympathy. Putnam appears a great deal during the onset of the play, where he appears to be acting as a catalyst in the madness. He is in fact the first to mention the hanging of the accused regarding Tituba ‘This woman must be hanged’. He also appears through the trials of the accused, with both himself and his daughter appearing as witnesses. However in the final scenes of the play, Putnam does not appear. It is in these scenes that the executions take place and the consequences of the madness Putnam aided, are portrayed. Moreover is we, the audience are shown how the witch trials have effected the village members. Putnam’s absence in these scenes reduces audience sympathy for two reasons. Firstly suspicion is pointed in his direction, as he disappears when the rolling stone of hysteria goes horribly wrong and key members of the community fall prey to the madness, thus creating a sense of his guilty conscious. Furthermore the final scenes are when the audience is made aware of how the protagonists were affected by the guilt of their part in the deaths of neighbours and friends. As Putnam does not feature we are not shown how he has been affected and so he remains void of sympathy.
The historical and social setting of this period is a key theme throughout this play. Religion and the importance of name are all strong themes in the creation of sympathy. The people of Salem were incredibly religious and there was huge paranoia surrounding the world of the supernatural. Putnam manipulated this paranoia to cause panic within his community to gain revenge over people he thought had dishonoured or darkened his name. He will remain void of sympathy as his manipulation and vindictiveness demonstrated in many ways throughout the play meant that Putnam was not a victim of these trials in any way; in fact we must presume he prospered.
Elizabeth Proctor is at first glance a blameless victim of Abigail’s desire for John Proctor’s love. She is persecuted for her position as John’s spouse. However, as the play develops we are made aware of her effect on factors that pushed the characters of Abigail and John into making decisions that caused the mayhem to begin. Although Proctor’s affair is his physically his own doing, Elizabeth admits that she did influence his misdirection, through keeping a cold house and regarding herself as too plain to be loved, ‘I counted myself so plain, so poorly made that no honest love could come to me!… it were a cold house I kept!’ and was therefore was suspicious of anyone who could love her, and consequently pushed her husband into another woman’s arms, namely Abigail. It was Abigail’s love for John that pushed her to start the witch hunt to get rid of Elizabeth and take her place at John’s side. Elizabeth also at one point has the chance to stop the trials by telling the truth about John’s affair with Abigail. However, in a moment of dramatic irony and tension, she lies, and thus the chance for Abigail to be found a liar and a whore is lost. However, every day people can relate to her self-consciousness, misguided vision of love, and contradictory emotions and morals. Along with this the isolation and tension of being trapped in an unfaithful marriage and her victimisation by Abigail spark huge quantities of sympathy for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s dialogue often enhances her self conscious, suspicious and cold nature. Within the dialogue between her and John, in act 2, the language she uses is very unemotive, ‘Aye, it is.’, ‘It must be’, ‘That’s well’. The monosyllabic sentence structures and simple yet polite language give the impression of strain between the couple and also the lack of emotion creates a tone of hesitation and thus self consciousness, prompting the audience’s undoubted relation to her problems. However when the emotion occurs it does so in prominent places. Firstly, her obvious loathing of Abigail comes through, ‘she speak of Abigail and I thought she were a saint to hear… and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel.’ The irony regarding the sin committed by Abby, and yet the comparison of her status to a saint, give this comment a sarcastic sense showing Elizabeth’s repulsion of the ‘whore’. Secondly her disgust at her husbands infidelity, and his feelings for Abby “proctor: ‘woman I’ll have you suspicions no more,’… Elizabeth ‘then let you not earn it.’ This short sharp sentence is icy cold in tone and her short temper regarding the subject shows her disgust. Thirdly emotions occur when she lies about John’s affair to protect his name. Her absolute horror and immediate guilt at her mistake is encompassed in her reaction of ‘oh god’, and the closing of the doors in the stage directions can be looked at the lost opportunity to end the madness. Finally her deepest love for john despite all of his faults and actions in the past is emphasized by the emotions ebbing through the language used in act 4 as the couple beg for each others forgiveness ‘ I never how I should say my love’, ‘forgive me, forgive me, john’. The tension from the language is gone with added use of exclamation marks and polysyllabic sentences. The stage direction themselves dictate ‘passion’ and ‘emotion’. It these emotions of hatred, jealousy, disgust and yet undying love that cause the majority of the sympathy for Elizabeth, as the audience are able to watch her inner conflicts and the way in which she deals with the emotions surrounding her relationship.
Structure is not a large factor in creating sympathy for Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a constant presence throughout the play, except in the very beginning when the mayhem starts. Her lack of influence in the initiation of the trials and yet her major victimisation in the central and final stages create certain aspect of sympathy. This is because although she has very little to do with the trials she is caught up in them despite her unwillingness. In act one we, the audience are introduced to Elizabeth the wronged wife of the lecherous Proctor. However contrasting in the next scene, her cold house stops this sympathy, as we begin to understand the factors that pushed John into the affair. However it is her appearance at the final stages that perhaps creates the most sympathy. Throughout the play, John and Elizabeth are fighting their conflicting emotions to save their marriage, and in the final stages as we see love prevail over all odds. John is executed as he has her forgiveness and so can forgive himself. This emotional love story immediately creates sympathy as she loses the man she loves to the chaos.
Elizabeth can be sympathised with because due to the religious and social values of that time, although adultery was deeply frowned upon, she could not ‘escape’ from her marriage and so was left struggling with suspicion and disgust for her husband. The period would also have placed blame on the victimised spouse for causing the affair ‘it is a cold house that prompts lechery’. Also her attempt to save John names rather than put an end to the madness was based on the high value of a persons ‘name’, which would remain forever soiled if blackened once. She was in fact a victim not only of Abigail’s love for her husband but of the constrictions of a hugely religious society and her consequential high moral standing.
Arthur Miller successfully endears the audiences into sympathising with key characters in order to enhance the already captivating story line through his subtle use of structure, language and his knowledge into the social and historical setting of the trials. He allows the audience to have their own opinion on the characters that he influences with their progressing development. Arthur Millers play is a creative dramatic and well-researched exploration into the hysteria that surrounding the ‘perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom’.